The Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria has denied the allegations of purported plans to take over Dangote’s Refinery over debts owed by the Dangote Group to banks.
The corporation denied such claims saying it has no business with the group.
This was contrary to reports by some online news platforms on Tuesday that Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, could forfeit the Dangote Refinery over a $7 billion debt burden owed to commercial banks in the country with a possible takeover by AMCON.
AMCON, however, denied such plans. It said neither Dangote Refinery nor the Dangote Group is on its debtors’ list and so could not warrant its taking over of the assets.
Head of Corporate Communications at AMCON, Jude Nwauzor, made some clarification to newsmen on Wednesday, that since the Dangote Group is not on its debtors list, the rumour that it was planning to take over the assets of Dangote Refinery was false.
Multiple sources in the Dangote Group also said the report was “false and malicious”, as the group has the capacity to service and pay its debt.
AMCON had in 2010 purchased 12,743 bad loans worth N3.8 trillion from 22 Eligible Financial Institutions for a purchase price of N1.8 trillion.
According to AMCON, Dangote Refinery was not part of the bad debts that it took over and there was no way it would be taking over the assets of the company now.
The Federal Executive Council had recently approved the acquisition of 20 per cent minority stake by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation in the Dangote Petroleum and Petrochemical Refinery.
The Dangote Oil Refinery, is a 650,000-barrel per day integrated refinery project under construction in the Lekki Free Zone, Lagos, Nigeria.
Commenting on the rumoured indebtedness of Dangote Group, an energy finance expert, Dan Kunle, noted that there is nowhere in the world where such projects are done without debt.
According to him, the private sector of any economy is developed through access to loans and a huge project such as the Dangote Refinery is not an exception.
Kunle while noting that the Dangote Refinery project is one of the best things to happen to the country, stressed the need for Nigerians to be optimistic about the project.